A Weekend-Long Urban Retreat, Spa & Temple
"Nourish and authentically deepen your way to a beautiful and balanced business and life." _________________________________________________ Saturday, April 30 (10-9pm) & Sunday, May 1, 2011 (10-6pm) The Inner Garden, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Number of Spaces Remaining: 11 Cost: __________________________________________________ Welcome Goddesses of Work & Play! I want to invite you to a very special event coming up this spring. I hope it will help you grow your business and feed your soul in a way that feels uplifting, enriching and deepening all at once. Our weekend together will be a magical combination of a workshop mixed with a spa and a temple for women. And, it's being created by a woman like YOU: a self-employed, hard-working, fun-loving, heart, body & soul-centered woman. A woman who is dedicated to the upliftment and liberation of ALL. A woman with values, philosophies and offerings based on compassion, love, respect, truth and integrity.
__________________________________________________
A bit of a back story . . . My name is Erica Ross and, for the past 13 years, I've been working with hundreds of women from all walks of life doing healing, expressive and spiritual arts workshops and sessions and, increasingly, I've seen how many of them are self employed, or in private practice, earning their livelihood directly from their own trade or business. Some have worked in the holistic fields (e.g. therapists, yoga teachers, chiropractors and healers), or they offered some beautiful service to the world (e.g. life coaches, lawyers, family doctors, freelancers and consultants) and others have been creative types (e.g. artists, actors, writers, designers and dancers).
So many of the Goddess entrepreneurs I know have expressed the following six things to me (again and again):
Many women I know already go to traditional business retreats, workshops, and networking events. But, often, the events feel 'off' for some reason and blame themselves for not 'getting it'. It seems to me that so much of business and business-oriented events are (still) run in a masculine way: focused. driven. linear. left-brained. competitive. goal-oriented. Perhaps these will seem familiar . . . A workshop where the presenter speaks - and everyone else takes notes. At the end of the day, you leave and your head feels totally full. You're overwhelmed with new ideas, feel fuzzy-headed and have no idea where to start... . . . or a networking event where you suddenly find yourself in a room full of people you don't know and end up only speaking to three people that night because the thought of thrusting yourself on people and randomly giving out business cards doesn't feel appealing or authentic. You feel that you are not being yourself.
I've been an improvisational dance performer, jeweller, artist, art teacher, clothing designer and manufacturer (selling to over 75 boutiques across the USA), boutique owner and retailer of my clothing line (in Lower East Side of Manhattan), producer of an international fantasy film festival in Toronto, co-creatrix of a thriving ecstatic dance community and women's movement-based practice (DOWH), DJ, and workshop and group facilitator. And the truth is that I've had, and still do, some incredible journeys (challenges and all), learning as I go. Sometimes the lessons have been hard, and other times they have been more gentle. Regardless of the outcomes, I feel utterly blessed to have created a life from the inside out, based on my own sense of purpose, authority, understanding and freedom. And what I know to be true, without a doubt, is how important self-care is to making a business thrive. Take for instance, last year... after raising my daughter for 18 years, and launching and facilitating a dance practice and other work, plus creating a home and beautiful relationship, I decided that 2010 would be MY year to actualize a 36-year dream to go back to beloved India.(I was 19 the last time I was there!). My hope was that it would be a return home to MYSELF. India would be my PAUSE. My self-care plan. And let me tell you something... It truly was! I came home to myself. I allowed myself to rest and play, and I found new creative juices. Oh yes, I became a juicy silver-haired Goddess dancing on the beach, creating beautiful art and dreaming new dreams. I blossomed!
Here's what going to India for two months did to my business . . . Two months later, when I returned to Toronto, I was relaxed, open and bubbling with new ideas. I was ready to work and take my life/work to new levels, which I did - with the birth and realization of my first DOWH Teacher Training which was incredibly successful - and so personally satisfying. My trip was so good for me, in fact, that I vowed to Mama India that I would return again, and so I am! This time for 3 months. More SELF-CARE!!! Now, a trip to some far off country may not be possible for you right now (it wasn't for me for a long time!) so I'm creating a small oasis of deep rejuvenation for you and your practice. Like you, for years I've really sat with this question of, 'what is the relationship between life and work?' trying to find the right balance for myself. And now I get what MY right balance is. I have made the choice to work really hard while I'm in Toronto, to make it possible for my return to India. My choice. My work. My life! More lessons I've learned as a conscious woman entrepreneur: Lifestyle must serve life. Our lifestyle AND work must serve and fit into our life - not the other way around. Our work should be a full reflection of the kind of life we want to live. We shouldn't be shaping our life around the work we've created but shaping our work around the life we've created. Then, our life is a reflection of, and deeply in alignment with, our values. I've learned that to grow a business we need to put just as much emphasis on the nourishment of our souls, bodies, hearts and life as on the business. We must make time to explore our own unique and perfect balance. We rarely step back to think about what would be the perfect balance of life and work for ourselves. We just plow ahead and hope for the best. On a holistic level - it's impossible to separate life and work. It's all about finding the right balance for our self - and our balance will look different from someone else's. Sometimes we start out loving our work, but then end up losing passion for it. Perhaps we needed to change the work we were doing, or perhaps we simply got burned out, by working too much, or by not working at a pace right for us. And so, it becomes important to get really clear and really honest with ourselves about how much time we want to spend working, creating, travelling, etc. The past does not equal the future. Maybe the past has shown us that the work we loved wasn't sustainable so we left it. But it's important not to get stuck in the past, because we have learned and grown, and maybe something that didn't work in the past might work now - we might be able to find another way. If it's not working then it's time to brainstorm and plan a new path to bring it out into the world - a path that honours who we are today, not who we were back then. I remember how back in art college over 30 years ago, I was taught to frequently step back from my art to see it from a broader perspective. When we are engaged closely with something we are creating or doing (including our own life and work), we can lose sight of the bigger picture and not notice where we might need to make adjustments or changes. So, this won't be your typical business retreat.
I want you to imagine something completely different . . . Imagine a weekend where you are welcomed to gather in a beautiful space, on cushions in a circle of inspiring women. Imagine a space where you can slow down, breathe and delve deeply into those places where you already know you're stuck. Imagine the delight of experiencing new openness, ideas and insights around places you had previously felt disheartened. Imagine a sacred space: part sanctuary, part temple, part mastermind group, a pinch of spa, a feeling of a retreat. Imagine a weekend for a small group of women entrepreneurs based on the themes of love, freedom, joy, inspiration, connection, ceremony, sisterhood, light, wonder, depth and open-heartedness. Imagine a space for stepping back and taking pause, to see the bigger picture for your life and livelihood - and do it in a more authentic, feminine, holistic and juicy way . . . in one succulent weekend.
So, the beautiful and potent question you will explore in this luscious space is:
If this appeals to you, I invite you to REGISTER NOW. Only 20 spots. And... the second you register... __________________________________________________
___________________________________________________ Blessings to you my sisters! In exquisite joy and love, *
* Who's coming: Tara Abrams Alex Collas Ruth Danziger Louise Edwards Vanya (Michelle Laporte) Kelly Okamura Corinne Penstone Tracey TieF
|
||||||||||
You will receive 3 FREE BONUSES of business-building materials worth $67 to help you with your business before you even show up. They were created by my Marketing Guru, Tad Hargrave (of 
"Erica brings deep love, care and magic to everything she does. She touches the hearts of the women she works with deeply, holding their lives, their gifts and potential as sacred. In doing so, she treats them as flowers ready to unfold, helping them to gently and courageously open to themselves, to a community of sisters and to the greater currents of life." — 
“I just wanted to say thank you for all the wonderful energy and nurturing and teaching you provide. You have made this period of growth and renewal in my life… more rich and beautiful than I ever imagined possible… I wanted to thank you for… role modelling as you do.” — Gina Silvestri
